


Critical Care

by CrescentDream24, Sandmann



Series: Leonard McCoy x Reader December [6]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Medical Procedures, Missions Gone Wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28080582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrescentDream24/pseuds/CrescentDream24, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandmann/pseuds/Sandmann
Summary: This is yet another away mission gone horribly wrong.
Relationships: Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Reader
Series: Leonard McCoy x Reader December [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2033593
Comments: 28
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Away missions do have a tendency of going wrong, so here we are with another take on this theme.  
> This one ended up being a bit more medical than the last story.  
> As always: we’ll be posting the chapters back to back, one each day for you to unwrap.  
> If you can spare the time, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this story in the comments!
> 
> CrescentDream24&Sandmann  
> Warning: contains somewhat graphic descriptions of a surgery taking place

“Can you open your eyes for me, sweetheart?”  
You heard Leonard’s reassuring voice close beside you, but it sounded like it came from far away, as if he were standing at the mouth of a long tunnel.

You wanted to open your eyes and look at him, but you couldn’t. Your eyelids were heavy, and the simple act of breathing took up all the energy you had left at that moment. Your brain was nothing but a fog, a collection of dense blackness that wiped out any memory of what happened to you, where you were, and how bad it all was. You knew something terrible must have occurred, but your mind couldn’t wrap itself around any specifics and you were barely coherent enough to realize you were awake.

Suddenly you felt your body being moved and an excruciatingly sharp pain shot its way through you, making you scream out in agony. The pain was everywhere all at once, but the intensity seemed to localize in the area of your lower back and abdomen.

The unbearable pain flared up again like hell fire, and you imagined someone was plunging a red-hot brand deep into your skin as the agony continued to spike through your entire system relentlessly.

Then, as suddenly as it had come, the horrible sensations left your body altogether, and you began to feel extremely tired. All hope of opening your eyes for Leonard was completely gone.

His voice was nothing but muffled background noise to your ears now, and you were not able to understand what he was saying at all. You fought as hard as you could to stay awake, barely aware of his hand covering over your own. You were terrified and doing your best to cling to consciousness, unsure if you would ever wake up again.

Eventually, you lost the battle and drifted into a deep, drug-induced sleep. But in the final moments before you lost touch with reality, you drew a shred of comfort in knowing that you were not alone.

***

It had already been a long day in Medbay and Leonard was looking forward to spending a relaxed evening with you in your shared quarters mere hours from now. You were currently assigned to an away team that had left the Enterprise a couple days ago and he was surprised at how much he already missed you.

You’d both been officially dating for six months at that point, something that continued to secretly astound him. Leonard never had any intentions of forming romantic relationships with anyone on board the ship when he’d first began the five-year mission, and he’d stuck to his rule without fail for the first two years—with exception to some harmless flirting here and there. He figured it would be easier to keep himself from forming deep bonds by taking all the emotion out of it, easier to remove himself from those difficult situations by not being in them in the first place.

He’d broken his rule during his third year in space, when you’d been transferred onto the Enterprise from the _U.S.S Intrepid._ It had been pure happenstance that he ran into you on this huge ship with its hundreds upon hundreds of crewmembers. You had needed a booster shot for one of your vaccinations, and your lifelong fear of needles made you avoid this order like the plague for many months. Finally, at the demand of your superior officer, you had made your way to the Medbay in a bundle of nerves, practically jumping two feet in the air each time the nurse tried to move in with the hypo. The frustrated nurse had eventually enlisted Leonard’s help, and he knew he was in danger of breaking his rule as soon as he pulled back the curtain.

You were instantly calmed by his presence and you both fell into easy conversation as he administered the booster painlessly. From that point on, he’d seen you almost every other day.

Tonight, you were scheduled to return back to the Enterprise with the rest of the landing party. Leonard had planned to surprise you with a fancy dinner once you had gone through the debriefing marathon that usually followed those kinds of missions. Maybe he’d even run you a soothing bath afterwards, taking advantage of the amenities his quarters had to offer. He knew how much you adored using his bathtub; ever since you’d moved into his living space two months ago you had used it practically every night. 

He was currently sitting at his desk after having finished the last of the medical reports for the day, idly glancing through the dessert options for later when the small red light of his console began to blink and he pulled up the alert message on his PADD. Several patients were on their way to Medbay---another away-mission gone awry.

He sighed as he got up and prepared for impact, only to find his world shattering into pieces when he realized that the team that arrived at Medbay was _your_ team, and you were amongst the injured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will be back with the next chapter tomorrow!


	2. Chapter 2

After only a second of pause, Leonard sprang into action, trying to push down the panic that immediately began to course through his veins. If he wanted to be the one to see to your care and do it properly, he would have to remain calm and assess the rest of the team just as carefully.

“What the hell happened here?” He questioned one of the nearby security officers that was helping the medical team to push in a gurney.

“It was a surprise attack. They were ambushed at the landing zone when they were heading back home. Some of the natives to the planet didn’t exactly agree to the peace talks.”

Leonard quickly scanned the injured, performing the necessary triage. One crewman was clearly already dead, a nurse calmly wheeling him over into another room as she drew a sheet over his body. Another had a major laceration to his face and upper chest, but seemed otherwise fine.

Leonard continued to walk through the room and assess the damage while his staff had started scanning the injured one by one.

The people native to the planet which the landing party had come from were very primitive, known to use things like bows and arrows, spears and blow-darts for combat. Most of the crewmen had a random smattering of injuries - lesions of varying degrees to the arms and legs. One crewman was impaled with part of a spear to the lower left thigh, his uniform soaked in blood. If he wasn’t attended to soon, he would die within minutes. Instead of rushing to his aid himself, Leonard quickly ordered his staff to tend to him so he could continue triaging the patients.

“Geoff, take that man to OR 1 and get that thing out of his leg!” Leonard barked.

Geoff nodded and approached the patient while a few other nurses near the back of the Medbay set to work on preparing everything for the surgery. The room smelled thick with blood, and tensions were high as the cries of the wounded and the clipped voices of the staff twisted together into a cacophony of sound that vibrated off the walls.

Leonard’s eyes raked across the others in the room, assessing the severity of their injuries and making sure they got the care they needed before his gaze finally landed on you.

Your eyes were closed as you laid motionless on the gurney, the blue of your uniform soaked in red. Your body was limp and lifeless and for half a second, he feared the worst. If there hadn’t been a nurse standing there feeling your pulse and counting your heartbeats, he would have thought you were already gone.

“It’s weak, but it’s there, Doctor.” The nurse said as Leonard strode towards you, trying to keep his own pulse in check. “Her breathing’s shallow, and there seems to be a large wound to her lower back. She’s lost a lot of blood.”

“Get some scissors and cut that uniform off her. NOW!” Leonard’s command filled the room and the nurse did not hesitate, grabbing a pair of scissors as instructed while he began scanning you with his tricorder. He needed to suppress the growing fear that had started to constrict his chest and let the surgeon within him take the lead. This was not the time to get emotional.

The tricorder beeped and presented its readings at the same time the nurse had managed to cut your uniform open.

She sucked in a hissing breath as she took in the sight of your lower abdomen. It was not just your back. There was a gaping wound in the left lower quadrant and blood was welling out of it in sync with your heartbeat.

He had to perform surgery on you, and he had to do it now.

“She got pierced by a godforsaken arrow!” the nurse gasped.

“Well, don’t just stand there gaping at it, go and wheel her in!”

You were rushed into the second operating room of the Medbay seconds later. While Leonard hurriedly scrubbed in for the procedure in next to no time, the stasis field was set up and the scrub nurses got the emergency surgical sets ready.

In the washroom seconds before he stepped out to perform the surgery, Leonard glanced down at his tremoring hands, took in a deep breath and willed them to stop moving. He had to _calm down_.

Moments later, Dr. McCoy finally stepped up to the operating table and nodded at the nurse to take off the cloth she’d been using to compress your heavily bleeding wound. He took another calming breath and then all he saw was the situs in front of him.

He managed to blank out everything else--the fact that this was _you_ on his table-- and focused on the task at hand. He had to find the tear in the artery before you bled out completely.

The atmosphere in the OR was tense, almost palpable. The blood kept rising in your abdomen, and it took him longer than he wanted to find the artery that had been ripped open, while the suction unit tried its best to create better sight by constantly slurping away the fresh blood.  
You had received several blood transfusions by now, and your vitals were somewhat stable, but it was a race against time, and Leonard was determined to win it.  
There was no other option.

A rush of adrenaline flooded Leonard’s body when he finally found the bleeding artery. He worked efficiently and smoothly, watched his hands do the work they did best, step by step, fixing up the artery, then tending to the surrounding structures, patching up what needed stitches, cauterizing, regenerating, mending, healing.

He had lost all sense of time as he worked on you, highly concentrated, uttering the bare minimum of words necessary--no shouting, no sarcasm, no cursing, no nothing.

When he finally stood down from the table, he was surprised to find 5 hours had passed since you had first entered surgery.

“You did well, Doctor.” The nurse’s voice failed to get through to him entirely. “We’ll take her to recovery."  
He nodded automatically, then watched as they left the OR with you before he took off his gloves, looked down at his surgical gown and found himself covered in blood. Your blood.

He felt completely exhausted and his hands started shaking again, but this time he was not able to stop them. He was physically and mentally taxed as he slumped against the nearest wall and let himself glide down, buried his face in his hands and finally allowed his emotions to wash over him.

 _I almost lost her today_ was all he could think as he began to sob silently, slowly falling apart on the operating room floor. The cold floor of the place he had just saved your life in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and this was the somewhat graphic surgical scene.  
> We hope you are enjoying this story!


	3. Chapter 3

Almost twenty-four hours had passed, and Leonard still felt sick to his stomach. You were showing early signs of recovering well from the surgery, and the outlook was promising. He should have felt relieved, he knew. But no matter how hard he tried he was unable to erase the image of your limp body on the operating table under his own hands.

He drained his glass yet again as he sat alone in his quarters with the lights low, staring blankly at the wall as he continued to work his way through the liquor bottle on the coffee table. He was trying to block everything out, drink away the sick knot in his stomach until he felt nothing at all. But it wasn’t working quite yet.

The buzzer sounded by the door and he reluctantly got up and stepped over to the panel.

“Bones, it’s Jim.” He could already tell that the captain had been informed of everything by his tone of voice.

Leonard sighed and punched a button on the pad, making the doors part to reveal his friend on the other side.

“You doing okay?” Jim asked, and Leonard could already see the pity in his blue eyes.

Instead of responding, Leonard turned away and walked over to the small liquor cabinet to one side of the room. “You want a drink?” he tossed over his shoulder.

Jim hesitated a moment, about to open his mouth but reconsidered, entering the quarters and taking a seat on the couch. “Sure,” he finally answered. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

Leonard scoffed. “You can’t handle what I’m drinkin’, kid. I’ll get you somethin’ else.”

After he finished pouring the drink, he brought it over and handed it to Kirk, taking a seat in the chair across from him.

The two men sat in silence for a while, sipping their drinks. Eventually, Leonard spoke again and his voice was pained. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost her, Jim.”

“But you didn’t lose her,” Jim said strenuously, trying to get his friend’s attention away from the liquor-filled glass in his hand. “She’s alive and recovering, thanks to you!”

Leonard snorted before throwing back his head and emptying his glass. “Yeah, sure. It all turned out, this time. Until the next mission goes awry. I won’t be that lucky twice.”

“We don’t know what the future holds, Bones.” Jim set his glass on the table, looking his chief medical officer in the eye. “And yes, life in the black is dangerous. But you knew that when you signed up for it.”  
“Hell, I didn’t sign up for _this_!” He slammed his drink down with irritation, then pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers and closed his eyes. All he saw was the image of you unconscious and bleeding on the operating table. He opened them again.

Jim was silent for a moment, sitting back in his chair as he crossed an ankle over his knee. “She really means a lot to you, doesn’t she?” It was more of a statement than an actual question.

“Of course.” Leonard glanced back up at the Captain, wondering what he was getting at.

“Then let her know. Tell her, instead of hiding in here, Bones. Life on board this ship will always hold a certain element of uncertainty. There’s always going to be risks to take. You’re both Starfleet officers, it’s an occupational hazard. But at least you have each other out here. At least you’re not alone.”

With that, Jim lifted his glass and downed its contents. “You should go and be with her. She needs you now. And you need her.”


	4. Chapter 4

Even before you opened your eyes you knew you were somewhere in the ship’s Medbay. There was a distinctive smell to the place--a mixture of disinfectant and medical supplies. And the fluorescent lights were unmistakable, even when set on their dimmest setting.

You would always recognize this place, where you had spent so many hours in the past, being patched up by Leonard and his team after various away-mission mishaps. But this time, you had no recollection of how you had gotten here.

You’d been on your way back to the Enterprise when you got ambushed and everything seemed to be happening at the same time. There had been shouting, weapons had been fired and all of a sudden you had felt an excruciating pain to your lower abdomen before falling to the ground, helplessly curling in on yourself. The last thing you remembered was Leonard’s voice in your ear, begging you to open your eyes for him. But you had been tired, so very tired. You weren’t sure if this part had been real or only a figment of your imagination heightened with adrenaline.

You slowly opened your eyes now, and it took you a moment to get your surroundings into focus. Everything was a hazy blur, and a headache instantly bloomed at your temples. The light in the room was low but it was still pretty painful for you, and you squinted for a few seconds before opening your eyes fully.

You were laying in a biobed in one of the private rooms of the Medbay, the monitors above you showing your vitals, a green signal spiking in sync with your heartbeat. A line led from your arm to the IV pole at your side, giving you a constant supply of fluids. The crisp white bedsheets were tucked loosely around your hospital gown, and you were aware of a dull throbbing in the area of your lower abdomen where you assumed your injury was located. You didn’t have the strength to pull everything back and take a look. A part of you really didn’t want to know anyway—it would only serve to increase your anxiety. You’d had the regular bumps and scrapes over the years, but never anything so serious as this. It made your throat tighten as your imagination began to run away with you, galloping to conclusions and wondering what critical organs were damaged, or even removed, without your knowledge.

Your grip on the bedsheets constricted as you worked to reign in your thoughts. Staring at the ceiling, you took in the texture of the tiles above and made your eyes trace their patterns until you felt yourself relaxing somewhat. Trying to distract yourself further, you turned your head slightly to the right, getting a better view of your surroundings.

Leonard was sitting in a chair next to your bed, his head reclined and leaning back against the wall behind him, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He was asleep but he didn’t look peaceful. His hair was messy and a dark stubble was gracing the sides of his cheeks. He had never not shaved while on-duty. Not once.

It made you think back to the last time he hadn’t shaved. It was one of the rare times he’d ever gotten sick in his life; two months ago, when the ship had been orbiting a mining colony in the Beta quadrant. There was a thing in space commonly known as “cabin flu”, a flu that was famous for going around big starships in deep space for long periods of time. It was thought to be caused by the disruption in a person’s natural sleep pattern and natural environment, and there was no known cure. It was quick to pass through the affected person’s system, only lasting about 24 hours in total. But it knocked you on your feet, and Leonard had been no different.

He’d been hauled away in his quarters that day, and you were worried about him all throughout your shift. You finally made it over to visit him that night with a bowl of warm chicken noodle soup from the cafeteria. You had the code to his door and let yourself in, expecting to see him in bed with layers on.

Instead, he’d been sitting at his desk, going over medical reports with not so much as a blanket to cover him. His hair was out of place and his chin was covered in stubble as his eyes were ringed with red. He looked absolutely awful.

“Leonard!” you had exclaimed in bewilderment.

He’d looked up at you as he wiped at his nose with a tissue. “Hey there, darlin’.”

“What are you doing?! Why aren’t you in bed?”

It had taken several minutes and a whole lot of persistence for you to convince him to turn off the screen and at least lay down on the couch to eat the soup you’d brought. But he’d finally conceded and you quickly covered him over with the thick blanket off of his bed, propping him up on some pillows so he could eat.

He devoured the soup and the warm drink you brought him later on, determined to get him to rest. You placed a cool cloth over his forehead and he finally dozed off, looking pale and sick but comfortable while he slept.

As you glanced over at him now, slumped down in the chair at your bedside, he didn’t look comfortable at all. In fact, he looked downright terrible. He probably hadn’t slept in a few days, as he tended to do when he was worried about something.

You felt your brows crease in concern, and even the slight movement made your temples angry. You moaned at the pain, wanting to touch your hand to your head but lacking the energy to do so.

His eyes opened instantly at the sound of your voice, and he ran a hand over his face once before eagerly sitting upright.

“Hey there, sugar.” Leonard’s words were spoken close to your ear, so close you could feel his breath against your neck as he leaned over you.

It felt so good to hear his voice, and you wanted to tell him so, wanted to tilt your head to look up at him at the very least....but even the small task of keeping your eyelids from closing was proving to be a real struggle. You finally gave in and let them close as you groaned softly, hearing him rise from his chair and grab something off the bedside table.

You couldn’t see it, but you figured it was a hypospray. Normally, needles of any kind sent you running for the hills. You hated them, plain and simple. But there was nothing you could do in this weakened state, barely able to stay awake. You wanted to ask him if there was another way, if there was something else, anything else, he could do. But all you were left with was turning your face away ever so slightly in the opposite direction.

“Just relax, relax. It’s all gonna be okay.” You heard him click something closed and you winced. “This’ll help with the pain, hun. It’s quick and painless, I promise.” You felt a light squeeze at your hand.

“Hold still, now.” A sharp sting at your neck followed by a hissing sound alerted you to the hypo he’d just injected into your bloodstream. You were too weak to panic about this realization. Your pain levels dropped almost instantly and you felt yourself getting even more drowsy. But you didn’t want to sleep, you wanted to wake up and ask Leonard what had happened, how long had it been since he last had a good night’s sleep.

You tried again to open your eyes, managing it for a couple seconds before shutting them again with a slight moan of frustration.   
“Shhh, don’t fight it, honey.” His tone was soothing and helped to reassure you somewhat. “You need your rest. I’m not goin’ anywhere.” You sensed his hand on your cheek now, gently caressing your skin and you leaned into his touch, beyond thankful that you weren’t alone.

You listened as he continued to murmur comforting things in your ear while he stroked your cheek, and finally allowed yourself to drift off again.


	5. Chapter 5

The effects of the hypo were evident within seconds as Leonard watched you fall back into what he hoped was a relatively painless sleep. He continued to stroke your cheek for a couple minutes, murmuring words in your ear in the hopes that it would calm you. He disliked giving you needles as he knew how you felt about them, but in this case he thought it necessary for your comfort.

He took his seat beside your bed after he was sure you were asleep again, staring at your face as you slept, his mind full of worry and completely empty all at the same time.

The door to your private room opened a crack, and Leonard could see the blonde hair of the captain as he poked his head in. “Can I come in?” he mouthed.

Lenoard motioned him in and he closed the door lightly behind him, making his way to your bedside beside the doctor.

“How’s she doing, Bones?”

Leonard gave out a soundless sigh, looking up at the captain from his seat at your bed. “She’s better, but still heavily sedated. She just woke up a bit ago--I gave her some more meds to help her sleep.”

“Well, that’s good, isn’t it? That she woke up?” Leonard gave a wordless nod and Jim cast a worried glance down at his friend.

“You holding up alright?”

Leonard continued to gaze at you and your peaceful features, resting his elbows on the armrests, his chin balanced on his hand. “Better than expected.” he mumbled. “Although I’d appreciate it if the next time I was re-applying her wound dressing that you’d try to keep this tin can flyin’ level.” He shot the captain a pointed look at that last part.

Jim tossed him a light smirk in return. “Apologies. We had to do evasive maneuvers there--a ship we weren’t expecting popped up on our radar.” He crossed his arms. “Or would you _like_ to be a slave to the Klingon Empire?”

The doctor shook his head, getting up from his chair and straightening his blue uniform shirt from hours of sitting. “Right.”

“Where’re you going?”

Leonard cocked up an eyebrow. “To the Medbay.”

“Why?”

“Well, you might not be aware of this Jim, but I’m the chief medical officer of this establishment. I’ve got other patients to see.”

Jim creased his brow. “Bones, I just finished talking to Dr. M’Benga and he said you haven’t seen another patient in days. You don’t have to leave her on account of me.”

Leonard stood in place for a moment, his eyes never leaving you. “And you _should_ be here with her.” Jim continued gently.“We’ve got more than enough staff to cover things for you.”

After a couple seconds of silence, Leonard nodded again, his eyes finally leaving your face to land on Jim’s briefly in gratitude. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Just make sure you look after yourself, too. That’s an order.” The captain took his leave then as his friend sunk into the chair at your bedside once more.

Jim cast one last worried look at the doctor before quietly slipping out the door.

***

When you finally opened your eyes hours later, Leonard was still sitting next to your bed, patiently keeping you company as you slept. His gaze was currently resting on a spot near the head of the biobed, and you could tell he was lost in thought, not fully aware of his surroundings. His thumb was drawing soft circles across the back of your hand, and your heart pulled painfully at the sight of him. He clearly needed sleep just as much, if not more, than you did.

Finally, his eyes flicked back to you and he noticed you had awoken. He sent you a faint smile as he gave your hand a squeeze.

“Feelin’ better?” His hazel eyes were full of concern. You hated that you were doing this to him, worrying him so much.

“Y-yeah.” You ground out the word painfully, your throat feeling like it was as dry as the Sahara desert. You hadn’t spoken in a couple days, and you immediately began to cough hard with the effort.

Leonard was prepared for this, quickly handing you a cup of water that sat next to the bed and holding it up to your mouth so you could take a sip. You almost drained the entire thing in one go, loving the way the liquid felt on your parched lips. The pain in your lower body was reduced to a more tolerable level now and you felt much more alert than the last time you’d woken up.

When you were finished, he set the cup to the table and you tried your voice again, giving him a slight upturn of your lips. “You look like hell, Len.”

“You’re sure one to talk! Doesn’t exactly look like you walked in off a shore leave by any means.” He gave you a wink but he sounded hoarse too, unable to hide the worry in his eyes behind the light-hearted conversation he was trying to have with you now.

“That bad, huh?”

He nodded, struggling to find words. “Well.....yeah.”

“Just how bad.....exactly?”

When you heard how choked his voice was, you wanted nothing more but to comfort him, reach out to him, hug him, pull him close and tell him everything was fine. But you didn’t have enough energy.

“That bad, yes,” he confirmed. “You nearly died, Y/N.”

He swallowed hard and your heart hesitated briefly at the news. “You were hit by an arrow on your way back to the Enterprise. A group native to the planet ambushed the entire landing party.” You were aware of his thumb tracing over your hand again, and you sensed he wasn’t doing it just to comfort you, but himself as well. “It shot right through you. You barely made it out of surgery alive and were in a coma for almost a week.”

That certainly explained his stubble. He must have sat vigil at your side the whole time, and judging by the look on his face he had been worrying every second of that entire week.

“I’m sorry,” was all you were able to say.

He laced his fingers through your own, bringing them to his mouth and placing a soft kiss to your knuckles.

“You better be.” There was a hint of a smile around his lips and you replicated it instantly.

“What about...the rest of the landing party? Are they alright?”

Leonard’s eyes broke from yours, keeping your hand raised to his mouth. “We’ll talk about them, later. You need your rest.”

You cast your gaze to the bedspread. “Some of them died, didn’t they?” Your heart sank in your chest, feeling guilty to be one of the lucky ones.

“Yes, they did. But most came out alright. It could've been much worse.” His thumb rubbed the back of your hand as he returned it to your side with one last kiss. “Much, much worse.”

Both of you sat in silence for a long while and you felt yourself drift off again with him at your side.

When you woke up, he was still there, holding your hand. The bags under his eyes were unmistakable, and you were truly worried for his health. You squeezed his hand to get his attention and he looked over at you.

“Len, honey. You need to get some sleep.”

He scoffed a bit, pulling his chair in so he was closer to the biobed. “I’ve grabbed some shut-eye here and there. Usually sleep when you’re sleepin, actually.”

You shook your head slowly, as not to bring on another headache. “No, no. Not here. You need to go to your quarters and sleep a full eight hours in a proper bed.”

“I can’t leave you alone, Y/N.” His words were barely above a whisper.

“I’ll be fine, Leonard. I promise. You trust your staff to take care of me, don’t you?”

He exhaled heavily. “Of course I do. It’s not that, I just--”

You brought up a hand to cut him off. “I don’t have the strength to keep arguing, Len. Now go and get some rest.”


	6. Chapter 6

Leonard eventually left your bedside reluctantly, and he returned a few hours later, looking much better. His eyes were less bloodshot and his skin slightly less pale.

He handed the ward over to Dr. M’Benga for the day and sat next to you for hours--reading to you, caressing your hand, helping you to eat a couple mouthfuls of soup. And as thankful as you undoubtedly were that he was doing all this for you, you still worried about his own health and the other responsibilities on the ship that were inevitably waiting for him. He couldn’t stay at your bedside forever.

Eventually, you got him to promise you that he would tend to his most important Medbay duties first before stopping in to visit you each day. It made you miss him while he was gone but he seemed a little less stressed after following your wishes. He continued to spend all his evenings with you though, sleeping on the chair next to the biobed and even bringing in a PADD when you were well enough so you could watch a movie together.

With each passing day, you began to feel more and more energetic. Your head wasn’t hurting anymore, and the pain in your lower abdomen was manageable with the medication Leonard had put you on. As you became more educated on the extent of your injury, you were even more awed at the fact that you were still alive, and it was all thanks to Leonard.

You were still not strong enough to walk or get out of bed, but you were able to stay awake for hours at a time now, and your appetite was finally beginning to return.

One afternoon, you were roused awake by a rustling sound near the far corner of your room. You squinted into the florescent light, your eyes landing on Leonard’s back as he was stooped over in front of something, muttering curses under his breath as he fumbled with a power cord. You finally realized that he was setting up a small Christmas tree, and you drew your brows forward in confusion.

“Leonard, what on earth are you doing?” You sounded a little drowsy, letting out a yawn as you spoke.

“Well, I was hopin’ it would be obvious.....I’m putting up a Christmas tree.” He straightened out the star at the top and took a step back, assessing the rest as you pushed yourself up in bed.

“I can see that… but why? Isn’t it a little early?”  
He turned to face you and cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t think so, hun. Considering that _today_ is Christmas and all.”

“Oh.” You blinked. “It is? Why didn’t you tell me last night?”

He gave you a smirk. “I did.”

You’d lost track of time ever since you were wounded on your away mission. Days passed by like they were irrelevant, and time really had no meaning in the Medbay. The only reason you knew one day from the next was when Leonard eventually came to settle in your room for the night.

You absolutely loved the holidays, and when you’d first started your journey into space, it was one of the things that you dreaded giving up. The Enterprise was as far away from home as you could get, but holidays like Christmas were not forgotten on board. On your previous ship, the _Intrepid,_ you had an annual Christmas dinner every year, but on the Enterprise things were a little different. Captain Kirk insisted on celebrating not just Earth holidays like Christmas or New Year’s or Easter as a way to keep up morale--every holiday from the Federation was welcome, and it made the never-ending voyage through space a bit more bearable.

“I must have forgot.....” You frowned, annoyed at how fuzzy your memory got when you were tired. “Where did you get an actual tree from?”

“I know a guy in the botanical department,” Leonard said while still fumbling with a string of lights. “He owed me a favor.”

When he was finally done with the tree, he stepped over to your biobed and pressed a button on the side panel, bringing the head of the bed upright so you could have a better view. Before getting out of your way, he leaned over you and planted a light kiss to your cheek.

“Merry Christmas, Y/N.” He went to pull away but you brought a hand to his face, keeping him there as you brought your lips to his.

“Merry Christmas, Len.” A grin escaped you then as you realized just how lucky you were to be alive and spending the holiday with the man you loved, albeit still on the mend. He returned your grin softly as he reached back to pull his chair up beside you, sitting down and turning towards the tree in the corner of the room.

“Well? What do you think?”  
It was a rather skinny tree—most of the branches were light on the quills, and the trunk was barely thick enough to keep the entire thing upright. A chain of twinkling multi-colored lights was wrapped clumsily around it, and the star was a bit too heavy for the top, causing it to bend off to one side. If you were being honest, you’d seen better Christmas trees at the dump.

But it was the thought that counted – and right now it was the best tree you could have wished for.  
You reached for his hand and rubbed it as you gazed at the tree. “It’s wonderful! I can’t remember the last time I had an actual tree for Christmas!”

He knew you were sugar-coating it, bowing his head a little as he took in the pitiful tree with you. “I know it’s not much, but I figured it was better than nothin’.”

You frowned a bit now as a thought occurred to you. “It’s just too bad that we’re spending our first Christmas here. I always pictured putting up our first tree together at home or in your quarters...not here in the Medbay.”

He reached out and smoothed your hair behind your ear. “I know, darlin’. But you’re doin’ much better already. Give it a few more days, and maybe I can have you discharged before the year is over.”

Your lips turned up at that. “That sounds lovely. I can’t wait to get out of here.”

He patted your knee that was covered in blankets, reaching over to hoist up a bag that sat beside his chair. “But now we need to get some food into you. I brought Christmas dinner. Hope you’re hungry!”

You couldn’t believe you hadn’t noticed the smell of the food until now, and your stomach rumbled. “I guess I could eat. Whaddaya got?”

He placed the containers of food on your nightstand, spooning various things onto a tray for you. “Got some mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing. Little bit of cooked vegetables and some buttered rolls. I’m not givin’ you a lot, just a couple bites of everything.” 

You watched him with wide eyes. "When in the world did you find time to make a home-cooked meal like this, Len?”

“I didn’t.” Leonard chuckled. “These are leftovers from last night's Christmas dinner. The one that the crew has every year. Courtesy of Jim Kirk himself.”

He handed you the tray then, and you eagerly dug into your first bite while he prepared a tray of his own. The replicated food you were used to on the Enterprise was tolerable, but there was always a distinctive after-taste that let you know it wasn’t “real” food. But this meal was free of all that, and you delighted in the delicious taste.

“Mmm, oh my god. This stuff is amazing! I’m so glad I didn’t miss it.” You stopped your fork mid-air before you took your next bite. “Thank you. For everything.”

He gave you a wink before biting into a butter roll. “Anytime.”

You both ate in silence for a while, before you finally pushed your tray away. You hadn’t eaten much, but it was more than your stomach had seen in a while and you didn’t want to risk over-doing it. There was just one more thing you hoped Leonard had brought.

“Did you.... also bring dessert?” Last year’s Christmas trifle you had on the _U.S.S Intrepid_ had been the best you ever tasted, and you hoped they would have it here on the Enterprise too. “And eggnog with a twist?”

Leonard laughed out in amusement. “Why don’t we take it slow? A few days ago, it was just soup for you. I don’t think alcohol will do you any good.”

You leaned back into the pillows dejectedly and sighed, trying not to pout. “Fine. No eggnog then.” You glanced hopefully at the small bag that was resting on the floor next to his feet. “But maybe just a small spoonful of trifle?”

He gave an exaggerated sigh of appeasement. “All right.” He pulled the hoped for trifle out of the bag you had been eyeing. “ _One_ spoonful. That’s it.”

You giggled and he brought it up to your mouth, letting you take in the heaping spoonful of dessert. You slowly laid back in bed again, enjoying the flavor you’d been waiting for the entire year. “Now _that_ is worth staying alive for.”

Leonard took away the trays then, packing up the rest of the leftovers and dimming the lights of your private room so you could enjoy the lights of the Christmas tree. You sat in bed contentedly, taking in the tree in front of you and waiting for him to sit back down.

When he still hadn’t returned to his chair after a while, you looked over your shoulder and saw him standing at the door with his back to you, tugging something out of the pocket of the jacket that he’d hung on the hook.

“Looking for something?” you asked and he immediately turned to face you, his hand behind his back.

“Nah, just making sure my comm was on, that’s all.” He rounded the bed quickly and took his seat beside you as you settled into your blankets with a comfortable sigh.

“So,” you said as you straightened out your legs. “What’re we going to do tonight? Play cards? Maybe watch a Christmas movie?”

His gaze was on the tree as he sat in the chair, his posture somewhat rigid as his thoughts were elsewhere. “We’ll decide later. How about we just rest and look at the tree for now?”

You gave him a questioning look but turned your eyes to the tree nonetheless. “Okay by me.” You both stared at the tree bathed in the soft glow of lights, and you were reminded of past holidays on Earth, filled with happiness and cheer. You snuggled into the covers even deeper, letting the festive light fill you with pleasant memories.

Your eyes were about to drop closed when you felt Leonard’s hand cover over yours lightly. “Y/N, I....I’ve been thinking. A lot. About you and me and everything that’s happened.”

Your eyes were open fully again, and you turned them from the tree to his face. He wasn’t looking at you, and it was hard to see his expression in the dim light. But his thumb was slowly grazing your hand back and forth, and the way he sat made you feel like he was trying to tell you something important, although you had no idea what.

“Mmhmm,” you encouraged, patiently waiting for him to go on.

“I know I can’t ask you to go and quit your job for me, and I won’t. Nothing about this is me asking you to do that. Okay? I’m just trying to.....well, I’ve really been thinking about this, and right now is probably the best time to come out with it.”

He was clearly struggling to articulate his thoughts and you had absolutely no idea where he was going here. But you squeezed his hand anyway, wanting him to keep trying.

“Okay.”

He looked directly at you now, and your breath paused in your throat at his intense expression. “I.....I can’t imagine what my life would be like without you, and I don’t want to find out. These past few weeks brought me closer to that then I ever imagined being.” He took in a deep breath. “I don’t know what the future will hold for us, Y/N. And I know us both being on a starship is inherently dangerous and unpredictable. But I also know that I want you to be by my side for all that’s gonna come. The good and the bad.”

You looked at him in disbelief as your pulse quickened in realization. “Leonard.....are you....proposing to me?”

“Well....if you have to ask then I guess I’m not doin’ it right. But, yes. I guess I am.”

Your eyes widened even more than they already were, your hand limp in his grasp as your mind worked to digest what he’d just said. Words failed to come to you as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small ring box.

“I bought this while you were in that coma.... the ship stopped at a Starbase to replenish its supplies.” He opened it carefully and placed it at the edge of the bed. Even in the low light of the room you could see the brilliance of the glittering diamond nestled on a band of white-gold and you inhaled sharply.

“Leonard......” you breathed, barely able to manage that one single word.

He let go of your hand, sitting back in his chair. “I know it’s a lot to drop on you....and we haven’t even been together an entire year. I don’t want you to feel like you have to do any--”

“Yes,” you whispered as your eyes were glued to the ring in front of you.

He stopped mid-sentence, leaning in closer. “What?”

“Yes......” you finally looked up at him, a smile glazing over your face. “Yes, I’m marrying you.”

It took him a second to process your words, but his mouth eventually matched your smile. “Are you sure? That’s not the meds talking, is it?”

You laughed and reached out to grab his hand. “Yes, I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life!”

He stood up at that, gently leaning over you to catch you up in a warm embrace. A sheen of joyous tears suddenly blurred your vision and you clasped your hands across his back, tucking you face into his neck.

“I love you, and I always will. Always,” he murmured into your ear as you hugged him even harder. You had never been more grateful to have survived that ambush than you were now. You felt him pull away momentarily as he slipped the ring on your finger.

“It fits,” his words were shaky and you pulled at his shirt to bring him close once again, tilting your head up to kiss your new fiancée. His lips were warm against yours and you melted into them, your mind painting beautiful pictures of what your life would be like together for years to come.

END 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was it for this story!  
> We’ll be back with the next one tomorrow!   
> If you can spare the time- let us know what you think in the comments below. 😊


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